


The LeBlanc Family's Big Misunderstanding

by Meemo4



Category: Persona 5, Persona Series
Genre: F/M, Family, Fluff, Gen, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Overprotective, Siblings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-27
Updated: 2019-03-27
Packaged: 2019-12-25 11:15:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,199
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18260153
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Meemo4/pseuds/Meemo4
Summary: Sojiro loved his two kids without end. Ren and Futaba were both staples in his life who he couldn’t imagine living without anymore. But when Sojiro learns that there may be a chance of… things… going on between them, Sojiro can’t turn a blind eye.





	The LeBlanc Family's Big Misunderstanding

Sojiro still didn’t truly understand how he did it, but he wasn’t going to question to it too badly. His charge, Amamiya Ren, had somehow managed to get his stepdaughter, Futaba, out of her room.

She spent a year and a half in her room, unable to leave. Sojiro tried everything he could to get her out but nothing worked. From inviting a therapist to making her mother’s curry, nothing changed. He tried to force a conversation with her, and also just left her to herself. She was dead set on not leaving her trash filled abode. If he tried to force himself in, she’d scream like the world was ending.

Her hallucinations were particularly frightful. She’d start screaming and throwing a fit, before suddenly stopping and asking for forgiveness. It was disconcerting, but how could you help someone who didn’t want any help.

But somehow, this kid, who he had specifically housed in his cafe so that he wouldn’t be anywhere near Futaba, so that she didn’t get scared that a criminal lived with her in her house, so she could still feel comfortable and safe, had been the one to get Futaba to leave her room. Next week, she was going to the beach.

It was honestly a miracle. No doctor had an explanation as to how and just gave up. Sojiro had spent a year trying to get a response and the best he had ever gotten was a conversation over text.

Sojiro would no longer show the boy any animosity, he had practically saved Futaba’s life, and all Sojiro could really offer in return was his kindness and gratitude. Ren was practically like a son to him.

But, for as pure hearted and miraculous as that boy was, there were still some boundaries in place. Sojiro made sure of that.

“Oh, and uh… could you not… you know, get with Futaba?”

It's not that the barista had anything against the young man, but, she was just still too young! He couldn’t have her dating someone while she was still so young and socially inept. She’ll end up with a crush on a boy and imagine it being true love. She’d get all dramatic about it and if the boy decided that she wasn’t who he wanted, she’d be heartbroken.

The boy had quite a few other pretty young females he could hang out with, there was no need for him to go after his innocent little daughter.

And yet… he was.

Well, Sojiro thought he was, but wasn’t completely sure. He didn’t even have any suspicions about it until a particular event.

The cafe was closed and the coffee brewer was busy making some dinner for the kids (it was obviously curry). Ren and Futaba were both busy playing some video games upstairs and all was fine and dandy.

Until he heard Futaba let out a very high pitched scream.

Sojiro convinced himself that Futaba was probably just mad that Ren beat her in a video game. Nothing too complex. She was always pretty emotional.

But then, he heard a bunch of thumps and more screams, this time both high and low pitched yells. Kids had no doubt got into a childish fight. Futaba followed by screaming…

“SOJIROOOOO, REN’S MOLESTING ME!” The slow paced man quickly changed his tune exploded up the stairs! There was no way that Ren could be doing anything! But could he?! No! Futaba must just be joking! If he laid a hand on his daughter then-

What Sojiro came across was Futaba sitting on Ren’s waist, _straddling_ the boy with one hand raising his shirt and the other was… was… _inside his shirt!_ _Probably feeling his chest or something!_ That couldn’t be possible! Why was she doing that!

Both kids were giggling away and Ren also let out a high pitched scream while Futaba let out a devious laugh. The cat was meowing away in the back.

“T-too c-cold.” The teen stammered out. His face was red and had a pained expression that looked somewhat like he was smiling and somewhat like he was constipated. Were Futaba’s hands cold!? _Again, why was she touching him!_

Both finally stopped and turned to notice him standing in the stairway. Both had perfect O-shaped mouths and looked _guilty_ _._  Oh he would give Ren _hell_ if he was doing something with his little girl behind his back.

“Did someone get a Critical Hit on you with a Confusion?” Futaba had asked the question so innocently and even Ren had _the nerve, the guts,_ to look confused. He would admit that their acting was good bu-

Ren’s smile changed to a smirk which looked like it belonged to some superhero in a costume from a super sentai before he quickly grabbed her by the shoulders and quickly pushed her onto her back, Futaba letting out a high pitched scream as he was doing so. Futaba’s hands were pulled away from his shirt to reveal… _a spray bottle?_

Ren snatched the spray bottle, removed the headphones around her neck, along with her glasses, and threw them both back onto the bed in one fell swoop, before he _sat on Futaba’s waist, knees on both sides of her waist, on top of her arms, prohibiting her movements. He moved his hands up… and…_

Started spraying water all over her face.

Futaba began screaming like a five year old and Ren’s smirk just grew in size. Futaba was defenseless against Ren’s onslaught.

“S-S-Soji-ro. H-Help!” Futaba pleaded. Ren started laughing maniacally.

“Power courses through me! Ravage her! Arsene!” Ren was making some obscure reference which the old timer didn’t get. But Sojiro was more concerned by Ren’s phrasing. _Ravage her?_ What did he mean by that!?

After a bit more squirming and screaming, Futaba stated her surrender. “I give! I give! You’ve depleted my HP!”

They both continued laughing for a bit more before Ren got off of Futaba and offered his hand to help her up. She accepted, _grabbing his hand,_ and allowed herself to be pulled into a sitting position.

“So, what’s up?” Really? That was all Ren had to say after that!?

“Sojiro, why didn’t you help me?! You can’t expect me to fight a Boss Battle without any Allies!?” Futaba then turned her head toward the bed. “You too Mona!” The cat looked like it was grinning and let out a very high pitched meow.

Sojiro was still very confused by the whole ordeal. What exactly was he supposed to say to this? What was going on?

“SOJIROOOO!” Futaba had, at some point while the retired man was still in shock. Moved right in front of his face and had begun waving her hand. Sojiro quickly recoiled back in bewilderment. “Umm, Ren? I think Sojiro.exe stopped working.”

“Maybe you shouldn’t have said that I was doing weird things to you then.” Ren crossed his arms and had a pout on his face. “Dork.” He added on.

“Maybe you-” She thrusted her finger right at his face, “-shouldn’t have started spraying me like that! Sore loser! Where’d you even get the bottle from?” The two continued to bicker on and Sojiro decided to make his retreat down to the kitchen.

The two were just playing games. They weren’t doing anything weird. There wasn't any reason to panic. He trusted Ren not to do anything. But he still couldn’t get the compromising positions they were both in out of his head. And, _Futaba’s hands in his shirt_ … no, she was just spraying him with that bottle. Nothing more.

He’d just have to keep a closer eye on them.

* * *

 

The second time the resigned government official almost had a heart attack was when he woke up to find that Futaba wasn’t in her room.

Usually, her room was always closed and Sojiro could hear the faint click clacks of her keyboard or her loud snoring. But today, there were no noises. Just an open door with no Futaba in it.

Where was she? If she went to spend the night with one of her female friends, she would have told her. Did Youji come in the night to do something? His plan to take Futaba under his custody already failed but he could have gotten desperate and kidnapped her! Sojiro tried to remember where she was last night when he remembered.

Ren had told him that he was taking her to the planetarium last night.

Did something happen to either of them? Where could they be?

Sojiro pushed his tired bones to the limit and sprinted to the cafe. He slammed the door open and ran upstairs. What he found was horrifying.

Ren was lying on his back on a futon next to his own bed. He vaguely recalled that it was the same futon that Sojiro pulled out for Yusuke when he spent the night. And Futaba…

 _She was sprawled out over his chest, face in the crook of his neck!_ Her head was tilted towards the stairway, where Sojiro could see a _content smile!_ She was snoring loudly and it made Sojiro question how Ren was able to sleep through it… unless…

This wasn’t the first time she had slept over!

Yes, it could make sense! Sojiro had stopped checking the cafe in the middle of the night. He trusted that Ren wouldn’t do anything he wasn’t supposed to. Ren could very easily sneak into his house and enter Futaba’s room. Futaba spent half of her nights awake and could very easily be doing… _anything_ with him. That also meant that Futaba could just leave her door locked and act asleep, jump out the window, and be in the cafe with Ren!

The thought made Sojiro’s blood boil. _How long had this been going on!_ But then a thought occurred to him.

If they were both sleeping together, then why were they sleeping on the futon and not the bed? Sojiro decided to think of the best case scenario.

Futaba was a very noisy sleeper. She not only snored a lot but also rolled around and could sleep practically anywhere. She could sleep on her desk, at the kitchen table, in the middle of the living room, in the car. But she also rolled around a lot. There were a number of times when Sojiro would go into her room to wake her up to find her on the floor, still sleeping comfortably.

And then came Ren. That boy could probably sleep through a hurricane. Sojiro had to pour buckets of water on him at least once a month to get him up on time for school and he always woke up quite late on his days off. He liked his beauty sleep.

He forced himself to think of a good, logical answer. They both must have come home late last night. Futaba must have been worried that she would wake him up and decided to sleep in _Ren’s room._ Friends shared rooms, right?

Ren offered the bed to Futaba and took the futon (Like he should have, Sojiro had subconsciously reasoned). The futon was positioned right beside the bed. Futaba must have rolled off sometime during the night and conveniently _right on top of Ren!_ Ren managed to sleep through it and here we are.

Sojiro knew that the whole scenario was probably not true. They probably were doing _something together!_ If Ren did _anything_ to his child, he would face Sojiro’s-

Futaba eyes began fluttering open.

Sojiro decided he would see how this played out. He moved back down the stairs until he was no longer visible. He waited and listened.

Futaba let out what seemed to be a groan. Then, a few seconds passed before she loudly eeped and seemed to crawl away on the floor. She was breathing heavily for a few seconds before she let out a ‘huh’.

Sojiro heard a few more pitter patters which suggested she was walking somewhere, but she wasn’t walking to the stairs but instead walking away.

The man’s sensitive ears heard a drawer opening and Futaba let out a mischievous giggle before he heard her pitter patters back to where she was earlier, near Ren. The Sojiro heard… a… marker cap?

A few squeaks mixed with Futaba’s giggling later, before Sojiro heard a snap. A picture.

Ok… everything seemed to be okay. His earlier theory seemed correct. Futaba seemed surprised alarmed when she woke up and was now probably drawing things on his face. Nothing bad was happening.

 _‘No! Ren is definitely doing something with my daughter!’_ , another part of him screamed in his head. He decided to ignore it. It was all an accident.

Hopefully.

* * *

 

Sojiro began to notice more and more little things going on between the two. Futaba would always be clutching his hand when they came home together. Sojiro optimistically reasoned that the reason was because she was still scared of the outside world.

Ren began to ruffle his hands through her hair quite often. Futaba tried to frown and look like she didn’t like it when he did that, but her frown came out as more of pout. She implied… that _she liked it._

But, Ren had rubbed arms and shoulders with that girl, Ann, quite a few times when she was over and him and Ryuji always had an arm slung over the other. Ren must just be a touchy, feely time of person.

Sojiro’s blood pressure always seemed to particularly skyrocket though when Ren went to _pinch her cheeks, and she giggled in response._

Sojiro attempted to keep an eye on them more often, but he couldn’t exactly deny them both from leaving the house together, and he had to take care of the customers, so if they were doing something in the attic or Futaba’s room, he wouldn’t be able to stop them.

It frightened Sojiro that they were both doing something behind his back. He desperately wanted to believe they weren’t, but he wouldn’t know unless he caught them in the act.

That was why Sojiro was wearing one of Ren’s hoodies that he found in his closet and began watching them from in between two gaming machines in the arcade.

He technically was stalking them, but he needed to make sure they weren’t doing anything. This was the only way how.

It was summer vacation. The cafe probably was only losing one or two customers in his absence.

Nothing too interesting was going on at first. The pair was busy playing a shooting video game for about twenty minutes.

But then, Ren and Futaba took turns playing a crane game. They were trying to get a Big Bang Burger mascot plushie. Ren eventually won the game, but instead of keeping the toy for himself, _he gave it to Futaba._ She began to jump around in joy with the thing in her hands before she moved to _hug Ren._

Wasn’t it a stereotypical cliche these days for a guy to win the girl a prize from a game? And why did Futaba _hug him_ in thanks? Was that a thing that friends did these days?

They then proceeded to eat at the nearby diner. _Just the two of them, alone._ Couldn’t this be considered a date!?

But, there still wasn’t any definite proof yet. He had to steady his hand . He wouldn’t jump Ren until he got definite proof. Even if his inner instinct wanted to throttle the boy.

After Ren _paid for the meal_ (it could be considered a romantic gesture), both teens made there way back home.

This was where Sojiro knew he would find his proof. Sojiro had left a recorder upstairs in Ren’s room before he tailed them. They would see that Sojiro wasn’t at LeBlanc, then proceed to do _something._

Part of him hoped to see them do something because it meant that he was right and he would know that they were dating.

But if they didn’t, then that could just mean they aren’t intimate enough in their relationship to do anything yet.

Futaba kept holding onto Ren’s hand today though. Sojiro was prepared for the worst.

The kids played video games for about an hour before Sojiro walked back in the shop. Neither of them seemed to stop playing, but he did hear Futaba yell ‘welcome back’ from upstairs.

Neither of them were doing anything together. Sojiro saw all the proof. They were just close friends. After all, Ren did get Futaba out of her room, so of course they’d be close.

Sojiro took off Ren’s hoodie and left it in the laundromat across the street. Ren would just assume that he forgot it there. He began to clean some dishes until the kids came downstairs for dinner.

* * *

 

A few more days passed by. Ren had just gotten back from his school trip to Hawaii. Nothing intimate had happened between both Ren and Futaba so everything seemed to be okay.

Until Sojiro got the proof he needed.

Sojiro was, once again, making dinner for the kids. A lot of kids, because all of Ren’s friends were also over. They came downstairs with somber faces. He heard that Shujin’s principle died recently so it makes sense they’d all be troubled. Especially after that Kamoshida scandal.

The kids soon left except Ren and Futaba. Ren was trying to do some homework, but he was obviously distracted. Futaba was busy smashing away at her keyboard.

The nicotine addict had run out of cigarettes and decided to go to the nearby convenience store to buy another pack.

He came back to a shaking, quivering, and sobbing Futaba. Ren was sitting next to her in the booth. The cat seemed to be missing though. She was muttering something incomprehensible.

Ren looked towards him and mouthed ‘hallucinations’. Sojiro ran over to the pair and held Futaba’s hands and reassuring her like Ren already was.

He assumed that the mention of suicide from Shujin’s principle must have set it off. Reminders of her mother.

Futaba began to calm down, but… then… Ren did the unthinkable. _He kissed the top of her head._ It wasn’t too intimate a gesture, but it told Sojiro enough.

They were dating, behind his back, ignoring what he told them.

Futaba seemed to calm down more and _fell asleep in his arms. He smiled while looking at her._

Sojiro had years of patience under his belt, he managed to hold himself together until he carried Futaba home and tucked her in.

He gritted his teeth on the way back to LeBlanc. He wasn’t going to let any of his anger go to waste. He was going to unleash it all on Ren.

He opened the door and found Ren look up from his textbook to him. “Is she okay?” He asked the question so softly, that she must have been very special to him! The punk had the spunk to still be worried about Futaba and not himself!

“Is she okay? Is that all you have to say about that!? Is she okay!?” Ren seemed to now realize how Sojiro was simmering and got more defensive. “You have been dating her behind my back, and that’s all you have to say!”

Ren had the audacity to look _confused._ To make himself looked _innocent!_ “I trusted her with you Ren! I even told you at the church to not get with her! I let you keep the cat! I bought you that TV upstairs! I even fed you everyday when I have no obligation to! Gave you a small allowance! And _this_ , is how you repay me!

Sojiro’s throat burned from how much he raised his voice, and he was prepared to say more, but Ren interrupted.

“You thought that we were dating?” Was Ren truly trying to still act like he hadn’t done anything wrong. Sojiro’s face must have shifted, because Ren began to look down towards the table before he steeled himself and looked back up at him. A new fear was now in his eyes, but along with that, came a defiance.

“Sojiro, I realize now that you may have gotten… the wrong idea, but I promise you that we are not, dating.” He stressed the word ‘not’ and even paused a little after it to add evidence. Sojiro didn’t believe Ren for a second, but this was also still just a seventeen year old boy, who still looked scared and ready to run.

Sojiro sat down in the booth across from him. This boy still saved Futaba from herself, he would give him a chance. “Then why does she always _hold your hand_ whenever you go out?” That doesn’t mean, however, that Sojiro would give Ren the advantage in this conversation. He would pressure Ren into a corner and make him fess up.

“And what about the time when I came to the cafe to find you both _sleeping together?_  Or the time when you were tackling each other with that spray bottle and getting _very physical?_ Or… what about when you _kissed her_ , just now!?” Ren began to rub the back of his head and look down at the table.

‘Caught red-handed’, Sojiro thought smuggly. He had already said enough, but he was going to add more, just to see the boy suffer. This boy tried to do something, _with his daughter_ , behind his back.

“I’ve never seen you that close with any of your other friends?! So why _her?"_  Ren looked down even lower. Guilty as charged. Ren mumbled something. It must have been some half-assed excuse.

“I trusted you Ren! And you destroyed any respect I had for yo-”

“It’s because I think of her like a sister!” Ren had closed his eyes, leaned forward, and practically yelled it in his face. He leaned back, slowly opened his eyes, gripped his thighs, and looked down at the table once more.

“... Oh… why didn’t you… tell me this before?” Sojiro had trouble asking the question, because he realized that he may of just royally screwed up.

“B-because, I was worried that you would think it awkward and weird. You openly called Futaba your daughter, but you never once called me your son.” … Sojiro now began thinking of it and realized that the most he had ever told Ren was that he was ‘like family’. But-

“I was worried that if I ever told you that, you’d be offended since I’m not actually a part of your family.” Ren’s voice trailed off into a whisper. He was shaking like a leaf in the wind at this point. His eyes were slightly watery as well.

Sojiro realized that he’d fucked up, and tried to fix this situation.

“I-I never called you family before, because I didn’t want to offend you.” Ren looked up, bewilderment spread across his face. “You still have your parents back home, right? I didn’t want to just assume that you thought of Futaba and I as family.” Ren scoffed.

“Them, my family?” Ren let out a low chuckle, before his face set into a grimace. “They haven’t ever called since my probation started. Whenever I call them, it always goes to voicemail.”

Was Ren serious? Sojiro had always thought that Ren’s relationship with his parents was a good one? It had been this bad? How had he never known?

“They thought that I hit that man to spite them! They didn’t even believe me when I said I didn’t do it! They practically disowned me when they sent me here!” All of Sojiro’s talk about kicking Ren out was coming back to bite him. He had probably just made Ren feel more alone than he already felt back then. He would need to find an opportunity to apologize to him.

Ren always tried to act suave and cool, but Sojiro was now looking at the weak and tired boy underneath that confidence and bravado.

“Ren, I wasn’t lying when I said you’re like family to me. You’re like a son to me you know.” Sojiro realized how shabby he sounded, but he couldn’t think of any other way of getting what he wanted to say across. “Sorry for, you know, going off on you like that. I should have asked you your side of things first.”

Ren wiped his eyes and said, “Naw, it’s fine. I guess we both just misunderstood the other, huh.” Both men let out small chuckles. “Also, it’s Futaba and me, not Futaba and I.”

“Heh, smartass.” A few more chuckles ensued, before the atmosphere of the room lightened up. “Does Futaba also think of you like a brother?” Sojiro wanted to make sure that another misunderstanding like this one didn’t occur.

“Yeah, she does. She actually called me her brother first. I’ve always wanted a sibling, so it feels nice. She said the same thing.” Sojiro let out a content smile.

“Well, that’s alright then. It’s getting late, and tomorrow’s school. Get to bed kid.” Both moved out of the booth. Sojiro was in the midst of cleaning the counters and locking up. He noticed that Ren had stopped at the staircase.

“Night… dad.” Sojiro tried to ignore the fact that his heart just skipped a beat.

“Night son.”

**Author's Note:**

> It’s honestly surprising to me that I haven’t seen another story about this topic before. It feels like something that could realistically happen and looks easy enough to write about. But maybe it’s just me. Idk


End file.
